Daniel Derksen, MD, Walter H. Pearce Endowed Chair & Director, Arizona Center for Rural Health, Professor of Public Health, Medicine & Nursing
University of Arizona Health Sciences Associate Vice President for Health Equity, Outreach & Interprofessional Activities. He is a tenured Professor of Public Health in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health with joint appointments in the College of Medicine and the College of Nursing. His current service, education and research activities include informing legislative, regulatory and program policy to improve access to health care and health insurance coverage; narrowing health disparities; developing, implementing and evaluating interprofessional service-learning sites; and working to assure a well-trained and distributed health workforce to meet the health needs of all Arizonans.
Governor Hobbs' administration is addressing health disparities through informed, evidence-based, collaborative policymaking. Update on Governor Hobbs' health policy priorities for 2025 and beyond: how it started / how it's going - how efforts at the Executive level can improve access to affordable, accessible, high-quality care in every corner of Arizona, insights into the Governor's priorities and proposed strategies to improve and sustain rural and public health in Arizona
Zaida Dedolph Piecoro, Health Policy Advisor, Office of the Governor
Zaida Dedolph Piecoro (She/Her/Hers) Name pronunciation: Zeta DEE-dolf puh-CORE-oh For the past decade, Zaida has worked to address the social, economic, and political factors that influence wellbeing in her home state of Arizona. While earning her BS in anthropology and bioethics from Loyola University Chicago and MPH from the University of Arizona, Zaida worked in a range of health and human service roles in direct service and systems-level advocacy. In her career, she has worked to end intimate partner violence, promote the civil rights of individuals living with mental and behavioral health conditions, and to promote food security, economic equity, fair housing, and access to high-quality, affordable healthcare. Zaida has had the honor of serving as health policy advisor to Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs since January 2023. She is an avid gardener and spends her spare time debating the big issues with her precocious kindergartener (he usually wins).
James G. Hodge, Jr., JD, LLM, Professor, ASU Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law
James G. Hodge, Jr., JD, LLM, is the Peter Kiewit Foundation Professor of Law and Director of the nationally-ranked Center for Public Health Law & Policy at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University. Through scholarship, teaching, and projects, he delves into multiple areas of health law, public health law, global health law, ethics, and human rights. Professor Hodge has published more than 300 articles in journals of law, medicine, public health and bioethics; 2 books in public health law; 25+ book chapters; dozens of reports; and guest edited 4 symposium issues. He is listed among the Top 20 Most-Cited Health Law Scholars in Web of Science (2013-2017) and is ranked above the top 1% of all downloaded authors internationally in the Social Science Research Network (SSRN).
Leila Barraza, JD, MPH, Director, Arizona Health Education Centers Associate Professor, Community, Environment & Policy Department
Leila Barraza is Associate Professor at Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona. She is the Director of the Arizona Area Health Education Centers program (AzAHEC). She also serves as a Senior Consultant with the Network for Public Health Law – Western Region Office. Her research interests include studying the impact of laws and regulations on population health. Barraza received a Master in Public Health from the Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona in 2004. She worked for the Center for Rural Health (formerly Rural Health Office) at the Zuckerman College of Public Health following the completion of her master’s degree. Barraza provided assistance to rural and tribal hospitals and clinics regarding new medical designation opportunities, health practitioner recruitment, emergency medical services, and funding opportunities. She received her J.D. with a Certificate in Law, Science, and Technology from the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University, in 2008. Following her graduation from law school, Barraza served as a law clerk for the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One from 2009-2012. Prior to joining the Zuckerman College of Public Health as an Assistant Professor in 2014, Barraza served as Deputy Director of the Network for Public Health Law – Western Region Office, and a Fellow and Adjunct Professor in the Public Health Law and Policy Program at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. Barraza has been published in several scholarly journals, including JAMA, AJPH, Public Health Reports, Jurimetrics Journal, Annals of Health Law, and Journal for Law, Medicine, and Ethics. Barraza has also provided numerous presentations at national and local conferences on a variety of critical public health law issues. She instructs a public health law course for public health and law students and has given special lectures in health law and public health law courses.
Michael Holcomb, Interim Director & Associate Director, Information Technology, Arizona Telemedicine Program
Michael J. Holcomb, BS, is the interim director for the Arizona Telemedicine Program (ATP) and is also ATP’s associate director for information technology. He leads the Arizona Telemedicine Council’s quarterly meetings, serves as an instructor on privacy and cybersecurity in ATP training programs, has co-authored peer-reviewed publications about telemedicine and telehealth, and is a past chair of the Technology Special Interest group of the American Telemedicine Association.
Carrie Foote, Associate Director, Administration, Arizona Telemedicine Program
Carrie Foote, BA, BS holds the position of Associate Director of Administration at the Arizona Telemedicine Program. In her capacity, she exercises administrative oversight for the ATP. Ms. Foote represents this organizations at regional and national meetings, assuming responsibility for the creation and curation of public relations materials. Additionally, she plays a pivotal role in fulfilling reporting obligations and coordinating activities for the ATP and the numerous partnering organizations. Ms. Foote also serves as the editor for ATP's blogs.
Mona Arora, PhD, MsPH
Dr. Arora, Principal Investigator for SCORCH, is an Assistant Research Professor in the Zuckerman College of Public Health. She brings expertise in GIS, program evaluation, and survey design and implementation. Recently she conducted a national workforce assessment of the public health system’s capacity to protect against the health consequences of climate change. Dr. Arora has served on several national committees, including the Lancet Countdown U.S. Policy Brief Working Group, National Adaptation Forum Program Committee, and the National Association of City and County Health Official’s (NACCHO) Workgroup on Global Climate Change. She obtained her Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) degree in Tropical Medicine from the Tulane University School of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene and has a doctorate degree in Geography from the University of Arizona.
Samantha Davidson-Walrath, Maternal Health Epidemiologist, Arizona Department of Health
Samantha Davidson, MS, is originally from Tucson, Arizona and serves in the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) Bureau of Assessment and Evaluation as a Maternal and Child Health Epidemiologist. She is focused on supporting the Maternal Health Innovation Program and Maternal Mortality Review Program through program evaluation and analysis of maternal health data. She previously worked in opioid overdose surveillance and prevention as a CSTE Applied Epidemiology Fellow with ADHS. Samantha received an MS in Epidemiology and BS in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Arizona. She is passionate about improving the maternal and reproductive health of Arizonans.
Glenda M. Ramirez, Maternal Health Epidemiologist, Arizona Department of Health
Glenda Ramirez currently serves as a Maternal Health Epidemiologist at ADHS, where she supports the Maternal Mortality Review Program, the Maternal Health Innovation Program, and other maternal health initiatives in the Bureau of Assessment and Evaluation. In her former role, she served as the Birth Defects Monitoring Program Epidemiologist, where she participated in the development and design of quality assurance activities and epidemiological investigations regarding birth defects and related conditions for various programs throughout the agency. Glenda is a graduate of George Washington University with an MPH in Epidemiology.
Will Humble, Executive Director, Arizona Public Health Association
Will Humble is a long-time public health enthusiast and is currently the Executive Director for the Arizona Public Health Association (AzPHA). His 40 years in public health include more than 2 decades at the Arizona Department of Health Services, where he served in various roles including as the Director from 2009 to 2015. He continues to be involved in health policy in his role as the Executive Director for the AZPHA. Will is a believer in using evidence-based health policy to improve health outcomes and in leading and managing with emotional intelligence. Follow him on Twitter @willhumble_az